Catherine Bateson
I have enjoyed many of Catherine Bateson’s novels. My favourite was ‘Painted Love Letters
‘Being Bee
This latest novel tackles the stepmother and tells a tale of a father and daughter team including a new woman in the house. It has been shortlisted for the CBCA Awards 2007 for Younger Readers. It replaces the stereotypical wicked stepmother with a new type of stepmother who is flawed and annoying yet gradually appreciated. It was an enjoyable light read.
I won an iPod! I am astounded. It has been quite a while since I’ve won any kind of random thing, like a raffle or such. I want to play with the toy I’ve won.
has taught me a lot about the Vietnam war and Australia’s involvement in it. I was a toddler when this war occurred and it’s a good insight into the experience of the people who participated in this war.
Different perspectives of the war are shown and there is information the variety of people involved. He discusses each countries involvement, Australia and New Zealand is emphasised, yet the American and Vietnamese soldiers also make comments on their experience of the war. He tells the history of Vietnam leading up to this conflict and I felt I have more insight into the story from reading this.
Another CBCA Award Shortlist with red in the title. The other book I have read in this category is Queenie. I don’t know how they judge a non-fiction book for older readers against a picture book. They were both excellent works.